From the fourth grade until his junior year of high school, Austin Mack beat the sun to the practice field. The early-morning routine often left his dad in the dust as well.

For three to four days a week, Brad Mack would drive his son half an hour from their home in Loomis, California to Game-Fit training in Sacramento. The before-school trek required the two to leave the house at roughly 4:25 a.m. in order to make a 5 a.m. workout. Without fail, Brad would find Austin waiting at the garage door with his backpack on ready to go.

“That’s the kind of kid he is,” Brad told Tide Illustrated. “He’s always thrived on being self-motivated, and he’s never been held back from fear of the unknown. When he sets his mind on something, he does it. It doesn’t matter how hard it seems.”

Those pre-dawn workouts were a sign. Since then, Austin has made a habit of being early.

After a breakout junior season at talent-rich Folsom High School, the four-star quarterback reclassified to enroll early at Washington where he spent last season learning Kalen DeBoer’s offense behind Heisman finalist Michael Penix Jr.

Last month’s coaching carousel created a change in plans as Austin followed his head coach across the country to Alabama. Now, he finds himself needing to make another fast start as he joins one of the nation’s most competitive quarterback rooms.

As always Austin’s waiting at the door, looking for his next opportunity to open.

Austin’s rise to prominence was supposed to begin at Del Oro High School. However, the hometown Golden Eagles saw the 6-foot-5 freshman’s future at tight end instead of behind center. That prompted a move to Folsom High School roughly 25 minutes down the road.

The northern California powerhouse is known for churning out talent, particularly behind center where it developed Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Jake Browning. The only problem for the Macks was that the Bulldogs already had then-junior Tyler Tremain lined up as their next quarterback.

In retrospect, that ended up being a blessing. While there was no denying Austin’s rocket arm, his passing mechanics needed a bit more polish before he was ready to take the reins of Folsom’s high-flying offense.

“You have this 6-foot-5 freshman coming in who could obviously throw the ball, but he needed some work,” Folsom head coach Paul Doherty told Tide Illustrated. “He seemed kind of awkward, a little bit like a baby giraffe out there. But obviously, he was a kid with a lot of potential, and we were eager to work with him.”

Instead of making Austin his backup quarterback, Doherty gave him his start at the sub-varsity level where he would get the reps needed to reach his high ceiling.

After spending a COVID-altered season at the freshman level, Austin took over the junior varsity offense during his sophomore year. Eight weeks into the season, an injury to Tremain gave him his first crack at Friday night lights a bit earlier than expected.

Austin’s promotion to the varsity level was humbling. During a three-game span, he completed 33 of 63 (52.3%) passes for 371 yards and two touchdowns with four interceptions while leading Folsom to a 1-2 record before Tremain returned to the starting lineup.

“He struggled, but he didn’t make any excuses about it,” Doherty recalled. “He didn’t pout or hide from it. He just came to me and said, ‘Hey, what do I have to do better?’ I was like, ‘OK, get a notebook out because there’s a lot. You’ve got to write it down.’”

Austin did just that, pouring over Folsom’s complex playbook while spending the summer undergoing a rigorous workout routine designed to prepare him for his second chance at the varsity level in the fall.

This time he was ready.

Austin wasted no time showing off his offseason improvements, passing for five touchdowns during Folsom’s season opener against Monterey Trail. He topped that five weeks later by tossing six touchdowns during a win at rival Oak Ridge. The most impressive of those scores came on a 62-yard strike to current Notre Dame receiver Rico Flores Jr.

“Shoot, he threw that one 60 yards downfield on a dime, right down the hash — textbook throw,” Doherty said. “There are not a lot of high school quarterbacks who can make that throw physically. And the way Austin was able to see the field, execute his progressions and get the ball where it was supposed to be, I think that was one of the first plays you really started to see what he really could be in the future.”

Mack went on to make several more of those types of throws that fall, finishing his junior campaign by completing 70.4% of his passes for 3,498 yards and 40 touchdowns with just five interceptions while leading Folsom to a 12-2 record and the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title.

The signs for Austin’s breakout season were written on the wall. No, really. Just ask Bill O’Brien.

It all started during the 2021 season when Doherty traveled down to Alabama while the Crimson Tide was recruiting Flores and fellow Folsom standout Walker Lyons. While on the visit, the head coach was able to sit in and listen as O’Brien, Alabama’s offensive coordinator at the time, broke down film with future Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young.

Doherty brought a few of Alabama’s concepts back with him to Folsom, including one he dubbed “Bill O’Brien.” Two months later, Austin found himself sitting next to the Alabama offensive coordinator in Folsom’s film room, breaking down the concept in front of its namesake.

“We were still talking through the concept and had just done it in practice the day before,” Doherty recalled. “Now Austin’s on the spot, and he’s having to talk the other quarterbacks in the room through how it worked. It just so happened Bill O’Brien was sitting next to him on the couch."

The high-pressure situation didn’t faze Austin a bit. Instead, the rising junior effortlessly articulated the setup to the rest of Folsom’s quarterback room, translating it into the team’s verbiage.

“Bill O’Brien kind of turned to me on his way out,” Doherty said. “He goes, ‘We got to do a better job of recruiting this school.'”

Breaking down offenses has long been a favorite pastime for Austin. According to Brad, his son is never too far away from a whiteboard. The quarterback had one set up next to his bed in his room back home and could often be found scribbling down plays and scenarios between study breaks or before dinner.

That carried over to his freshman season at Washington where Brad helped his son put together a similar setup in his dorm. That whiteboard also got plenty of use, as Austin spent his redshirt season mastering the Huskies high-powered attack in what should have been his senior season of high school.

“He’s just got a really great head on his shoulders,” DeBoer said of Austin during Senior Bowl practices in Mobile, Alabama last week. “He’s young and for him to do what he did with us this last year, he reclassified and really learned the offense as fast as anyone I’ve ever seen at that age.”

Washington might have presented Austin with the opportunity to start his college career early, but Stanford should get an assist for making things possible.

In order to reclassify and enroll at Washington last fall, Austin had to cram nine courses into his final semester at Folsom. That made for a few long nights, but fortunately, the young quarterback had a bit of a head start.

Before his breakout junior season, Austin already had offers from several Pac-12 programs. Among those was Stanford, which told him it planned on making him its 2024 starting quarterback. According to Brad, Cardinal coaches were so intent on bringing in Austin they worked with his counselors to alter his class load in order to help him meet Stanford’s heightened academic requirements.

Stanford’s strategy ended up being in vain as Austin committed to Washington last February. However, the extra workload, paired with previous summer classes the quarterback had taken as part of his original plan to graduate in December, meant he’d only have to add three online courses to reclassify and join the Huskies last August.

Austin’s reclassification provided depth for Washington’s depleted quarterback room, which was down to a sixth-year senior in Penix as well as fifth-year junior Dylan Morris. It also allowed the 17-year-old to soak up the playbook behind an established quarterback before making a push for a starting spot the following year.

The plan made sense on paper, but Brad needed a bit of persuading before he felt comfortable signing off on it.

While Brad’s initial answer was no, he kept an open dialogue on the topic, consulting several family friends with ties to the college and professional levels. The most influential of those was Austin’s longtime trainer, Lem Adams, the man on the other side of those early-morning drives to Sacramento.

Adams spent a couple of days weighing up the pros and cons before coming back with the answer, “Why not Austin.”

“It was like 'if anyone can do this, it’s him,'” Adams said. “He was going to be behind a great quarterback who he could learn from. His family is in a situation where he could travel to all his games. He’s super committed to the sport. He works hard. It all just kind of stacked up.”

The other key voice in Brad’s ear came from Washington offensive coordinator Ryan Grubb, who offered him a promise instead of a pitch.

“There was one statement that Ryan made to me early on,” Brad recalled. “He said, ‘A lot of people are going to promise you things. I’m only as good as my word.’ To this day, he has always lived up to his word. It really gives you a sense of ease that he’s not only looking out for Austin, but he has a plan and he’s trustworthy. That’s hard to find.”

After receiving the green light from his father, Austin’s next hurdle came in adding the necessary weight to withstand the college level. At the time of his reclassification, the 6-foot-6 quarterback tipped the scales at just 210 pounds. Over the next four months, he teamed up with Adams to undergo a grueling offseason workout plan that allowed him to pack on 15 pounds of muscle.

“That was just even more proof that he was ready for the next step,” Adams said. “It was intense, but it had to be to make sure his mind and body is ready for that level. It takes a certain type of person to go through all that, but he was so focused on the end goal, it didn’t phase him.”

The shockwaves of Nick Saban’s retirement didn’t take long to reach Seattle. Within 24 hours, DeBoer’s name surfaced as a potential target for Alabama. Less than a day after that, the Crimson Tide had announced the Washington head coach as Saban’s successor.

“As a family, it was crushing,” Brad recalled. “This whole plan of Austin giving up his senior year and giving his recruiting process was starting to crumble.”

The Macks’ relationship with Grubb left the door open for Austin to stay at Washington had the offensive coordinator been promoted. However, that plan was dashed when Grubb posted late that Saturday night that he did not get the job. With Grubb set to rejoin DeBoer in Alabama, Austin wasted no time entering his name in the transfer portal the following day.

According to Brad, Georgia was the first program to reach out, followed by Utah and hometown Sacramento State. However, when Alabama came calling, the choice became clear.

“Once we spoke with them, they soared to the top of our list,” Brad said. “It’s the same offense, same coaching staff, same plan. It was just a different location.”

Austin committed to Alabama on Jan. 18, four days after entering the portal. In doing so, he entered a quarterback room that brings back the highest returning Heisman Trophy vote-getter in redshirt junior Jalen Milroe, as well as a former Rivals100 member in redshirt sophomore Ty Simpson and another promising four-star talent in redshirt freshman Dylan Lonergan.

“We considered the competition, but that’s going to be the case wherever Austin ended up going,” Brad said. “At Alabama, he’s joining a storied program and a coaching staff he is comfortable with. He’s sees the opportunity and he’s confident in himself. He feels that he can go there and compete. It’s not going to be easy, but he’s never been afraid of a challenge.”

While he’s roughly 2,300 miles away from home and in his second program in two seasons, there’s still a sense of familiarity in Austin’s move to Alabama. Just like before those early mornings back in California, he’ll be waiting and ready for when his opportunity comes.